Who Speaks First?

Who Speaks First? is a farce in one act by Charles Dance (1794–1863)[1].

Sometimes given as Who Speaks First.

The original text

A farce about a a loving brother who has to bring a reconciliation between a young couple who having argued, each refuse to be the first to speak.

First performed in 1849 at Madame Vestris's Lyceum Theatre, London, then played at various theatres in New York in the same year. Published by both Samuel French and M. Douglas, 1850 (as Issue 34 of Minor drama).

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1857: Performed in the Harrington Street Theatre , Cape Town, on 23 September by the Sefton Parry Company. Also performed was Crimson Crimes (Anon) and Monsieur Jacques (Barnett and Barnett).

1857: Performed as Who Speaks First by the Boscawen Amateurs in Simonstown on 28 December, with The Somnabulist (Moncrieff) as a benefit evening for the Indian Sufferers Relief Fund.

1867: Performed by the Le Roy-Duret Company in the Harrington Street Theatre, Cape Town, on 27 and 28 December as afterpiece to the Christmas pantomime as Harlequin Prince Perseus, or The Maid and the Monster ().

1875: Performed as Who Speaks First? in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, by Disney Roebuck's company on 20 March, with Black-Eyed Susan (Jerrold).